In 2009, I abandoned the hustle and bustle of Central Europe for the serene beauty of northern B.C. – Terrace, to be precise.

I moved from a society where the entire economy is focused on productivity and competitiveness in order to sell products to the global markets.

In truth, Central Europe has no choice. The economies of that region must invest heavily in innovative, modern technology because they have few natural resources to extract and generate wealth from.

Naturally, the first reaction to this type of economy is that it’s a good thing and that everyone is able to participate — but that’s not true.

Labour-intensive jobs are outsourced to regions such as Eastern Europe where labour is cheaper, which allows the products to be produced at a lower cost and stay competitive.

As well, hundreds of thousands of people are not able to participate in this technology-intensive economy in a way that allows them to prosper, even when they work two or three jobs.

That’s Central Europe. What about B. C.?

In the north, we’re faced with a dramatically different economic scenario.

The north is on the cusp of a very prosperous future — but that future is heavily dependent on the development of natural resources.

Since natural resources cannot be globalized similar to tech products out of Central Europe, they are inherently tied to the rise and fall of commodity prices, which ultimately determine if the rocks, trees or oil and gas should be left in the ground or extracted to generate wealth.

B.C.’s dependence on commodities and the U.S. market are the primary reasons why the north, despite its abundance of wealth-generating resources, faced hardship, high unemployment rates and mass emigration during the 1990s and part of the last decade.

Cities such as Prince Rupert, Terrace and Kitimat hemorrhaged people year after year and struggled to deliver vital community services amid a declining and aging population.

Times were tough. But times are changing.

For the last number of years, the northeast has been booming thanks to natural gas exploration and development.

That trend has reached down the supply line to the northwest coast.

Prince Rupert and Kitimat are now being bombarded with liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal proposals and other new investments in mines, transportation and energy infrastructure.

Although northern B.C. is home to less than 10 per cent of the province’s population, its contribution to British Columbia’s overall GDP is astonishing.

Some 80 per cent of B.C.’s total exports are derived from natural resources extracted in the interior — resources that underwrite many of the services and infrastructure that folks in the Lower Mainland enjoy and continue to demand.

This while 52 per cent, or more than $70 billion, of the major capital projects proposed in B.C. in the coming years are in the north.

The north is now preparing the workforce of the future to meet the needs of industry.

Despite what some folks would make you want to believe, it is happening as we speak, across a spectrum of skilled trades.

Young families have started to move back to the north where housing is affordable and a work-life balance is not trade for a commute.

Engineering and consulting companies are hiring geologists, biologists and environmental technicians to service proposed infrastructure projects.

Training bodies, colleges and industry associations are working to assure the people of the north can secure the jobs of the future, while some regions are already signalling full employment among First Nations communities.

Yet, one very large risk remains.

The largest portion of BC’s population either does not understand the importance of northern B.C.’s resource economy or opposes it for ideological reasons.

If the rest of B.C. can’t commit to at least some of these projects, then the north will not be ready to take advantage of these job-creating opportunities, and the region will experience a repeat of what happened in the 1990s.

The fact is we are a resource producing country. We are a resource-dependent province.

We should be proud of that — our environmental, safety and land-use practices in the forests, lakes, rivers and mountains of this beautiful province are world-class.

Every day, we are showing the world that we can responsibly extract resources and protect the integrity of super, natural British Columbia.

The discussion about the environmental risks of natural resource extraction and transportation are important and necessary, but they need to be held in the framework of an open-ended debate.

The people of this province are intelligent and sophisticated — they deserve more than ultimatums and either-or debates.

We must discuss these issues amid all the facts, otherwise all of B.C. could miss out on a massive job-creating opportunity.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

Opinion: British Columbians deserve more than either-or debates on development

Video

Business Videos

Best of Postmedia

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Ignore the diversions in the United States: athletes kneeling or standing during the national anthem; Republicans flailing and failing again on health care; a kick-boxing creationist possibly becoming senator from Alabama. Calamity looms elsewhere. We are hurtling toward war with North Korea. It may be as early as next month. […]

It wasn’t in the middle of a farmer’s muddy field or deep in the boreal forest where the Canadian oilsands truly struck pay dirt. It was inside Fort McMurray’s recreation centre. More than 1,400 oilpatch workers, corporate executives, provincial leaders and the country’s prime minister assembled 21 years ago in northern Alberta to grasp a […]

Google’s powerful search engine is defeating some court-ordered publication bans in Canada and undermining efforts to protect young offenders and victims. Computer experts believe it’s an unintended, “mind-boggling” consequence of Google search algorithms. In six high-profile cases documented by the Citizen, searching the name of a young offender or victim online pointed to media coverage […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.